Cross-cultural study of managerial recruitment tools in Nordic countries

The article describes recruitment tools used in the four main Nordic countries (Finland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark). It tries to compare résumés, covering letters and interviewing techniques used so as to extract what is most valued by each of them.

Both junior and senior levels of management need to be aware of the variety of practices described here but it is their decision to tailor their documents to the expectations of the country to which they are applying. In a similar fashion, employers need to be more open-minded as to how recruiters across Europe bear judgment on anyone’s application. The question may also be raised as to who will set the European standards for such documents in the future. But, as résumés in the Nordic countries, as elsewhere, reflect management values, they are bound to differ for some time until a European management style eventually emerges.

The specificities of the tools used by Finland, Norway, Denmark and Sweden are studied in detail as well their underlying managerial values.     

Realistic recruitment practices in organizations: The potential benefits of generalized expectancy calibration

Realistic Job Previews (RJPs) have been studied by researchers and utilized by practitioners to attenuate early turnover by providing both positive and negative information about a job and organization to job applicants. Historically, RJPs have suffered from several criticisms including modest effect sizes, cost of development, and potential self-selection effects. Recently, the expectancy lowering procedure (ELP: Buckley, Fedor, Veres, Wiese, & Carraher has been developed and tested to address these limitations of the RJP. The purpose of this review is to provide historical foundations and persistent limitations of the RJP, and to extend propositions supporting the ELP as an effective alternative procedure.     

Legitimation and institutionalization of managerial practices. The role of organizational rhetoric

This paper analyzes how rhetoric is associated with the legitimation and institutionalization of managerial practices. Since rhetoric both shapes and reflects an actor’s legitimacy assumptions, rhetoric can be used as an indicator of the institutionalization or cognitive legitimacy of managerial practices. Drawing on and expanding previous research on rhetorical theory and verbal accounts, this paper links argumentation structure and form with processes of institutionalization. The empirical analysis draws on a large text corpus of data from two German banks, both of which implemented drastic downsizing measures. The results show that the process of institutionalization is related to both a decline in argument diversity and a shift from defensive to acclaiming arguments.     

Employees' experience of human resource practices under plural form franchising: The impact of front-line managerial capability

The franchising business model has received scant attention within the field of human resource management (HRM). Data tracking workers' experience of this format are more elusive still. This study draws on comparative, qualitative data derived from discussions with 82 respondents working within the corporate and franchised divisions of a market leading, fast food multinational company (MNC). Extant analyses of franchised operations point to shortcomings in franchisees' treatment of staff. This outcome is typically asserted to be the result of the opportunism that flows from the desire to maximise revenues and minimise costs. This emphasis on structural pressures ignores the micro-level influences and the complexity of the day-to-day dynamics of the employment relationship. Specifically, the impact of the leadership skills and competence of front-line managers (FLMs) is overlooked. The study highlights that differences in FLM capability significantly affect the work climate, further aggravating poor HR activities in the franchised units, while offsetting some of the repressive task features associated with routinised work in the corporate division.     

Management of paradox: a comparative study of managerial practices in Korean and Japanese firms

Numerous scholars are recognizing that paradoxes are indigenous to organizational functioning. Managers too are being challenged to do more and spend less, and delegate and know the details. As a corporate objective, neither efficiency nor innovation can be sacrificed. In this paper, we have attempted to capture this emerging trend empirically. Defining management of paradox as ‘managerial practices that realize the simultaneous accomplishment of multiple strategic objectives that are seemingly or actually incompatible,’ this paper explores how organizational capabilities of effectively dealing with paradox can be acquired. Specifically, the paper attempts to address two organizational mechanisms: decision-making structure and human resource practices (HRPs). Propositions deduced from the existing literature were tested with the data collected from 103 Korean firms and 136 Japanese firms. The data indicated that firms have to be multi-talented. It was found that firms that successfully accomplished innovation and efficiency objectives simultaneously were those that were able to mix paradoxical organizational practices: decentralization and control on the one hand and the three HRPs on the other. It was also found that the Japanese corporations were more apt in deploying paradoxical managerial practices than the Korean counterparts. The paper concludes by discussing a few theoretical implications.     

Linking service level, inventory management and warehousing practices: A case-based managerial analysis

This paper aims to understand how best performing companies strive to improve their service levels, under the assumption that not only inventory management, but also warehouse management plays a key role in achieving this goal. To explore this issue, a case-based analysis was conducted on six companies from the food distribution and pharmaceutical industries. The empirical analysis shows that this assumption holds when the companies deal with a very high number of SKUs; they need to properly manage warehousing processes to guarantee fast, complete and correct deliveries to customers. This results in the adoption of best practices and in relevant investments in technology and equipment peculiar to warehousing. This empirical analysis also shows that, to further improve the accuracy and the speed of the picking and shipping processes, the companies tend to automate their activities, but only when the level of order fragmentation is low and the degree of morphological homogeneity is high.     

International recruitment and selection practices of South Korean multinationals in China

South Korean multinational enterprises (MNEs) have developed rapidly since the late 1950s. However, there is little research on, and hence little is known about, how South Korean MNEs manage human resources in overseas operations. To fill this gap, in the literature the current study investigates South Korean MNEs' international recruitment and selection policies and practices in their Chinese operations. It reveals that South Korean MNEs tend to adopt the polycentric approach or a mixed approach of being polycentric and ethnocentric to international staffing, with the number of expatriates dropping gradually over time. South Korean MNEs adopt ‘one-way selection’ in recruiting and selecting expatriates, and localise recruitment procedures and selection criteria for host-country nationals. South Korean MNEs have paid inadequate attention to: first, expatriates' career development; and second, personal and family issues emerging from expatriation and repatriation.     

Dusk for the pyramid-shaped bureaucracy: examining the shape of the U.S. federal bureaucracy in the twenty first century

The pyramid-shaped hierarchy was the most popular structure for the federal bureaucracy for most of the twentieth century. However, major management reform movements in the late twentieth century, such as new public management, reinventing government, and the national performance review, embrace the common theme of criticizing the traditional bureaucracy. If these efforts to fix the bureaucracy had achieved their anticipated results, the contemporary federal bureaucracy would have become a flattened-pyramid hierarchy with an increased span of control. The current article investigates the structure of the federal bureaucracy from the early 2000s to the present. The findings indicate that the federal bureaucracy is not pyramid shaped but instead is an inverse-calabash shape. In addition, little evidence was found of an increased span of control in the federal bureaucracy. In sum, the goal of the management reforms for changing the structure of the bureaucracy was not fulfilled.

     

The glass ceiling in context: the influence of CEO gender,recruitment practices and firm internationalisation on the representation of women in management

This study examines macro‐level organisational determinants of women in management. Specifically, we examined organisational characteristics and strategies, including firm levels of internationalisation, firm foreign ownership, chief executive officer gender and the active recruitment of women, as predictors of an organisation's level of representation of women in management. Results from a survey of 278 firms indicated that the presence of a female chief executive officer and an organisation's active recruitment of women are positively associated with a firm's percentage of women in management while firm internationalisation and firm foreign ownership are negatively associated with the representation of women in management. Overall, these findings suggest that although firms exercise discretion with respect to hiring and promoting women, they are also constrained by the external environment and organisational characteristics. For example, firms with higher levels of firm internationalisation and that are foreign‐owned may limit their efforts and investment in the advancement of women into management.     

Using flexible schedules in the managerial world: The power of peers

Reports indicate that managers fail to take advantage of flexible work schedules to integrate work and life demands. A survey was conducted of approximately 1,000 managers who had three alternative schedule options: flextime, part‐time work, and leave of absence. Managers who were women or who had work group peers who were schedule users were more likely to use each schedule. Managers' productivity concerns were highest for flextime, then leaves, and least for part‐time work. Organizational cultural change can occur if managers take the lead in their work groups to use flexible schedules in order to remove social barriers. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Dismantling the myths about managerial (in)capabilities in micro-firms. SEAM intervention-research to develop management practices

Extant literature on SMEs currently offers an incomplete and deterministic characterisation of micro-firms (M-Fs) that are not growth-oriented start-ups, so very little is known about the actual functioning and internal challenges that hinder the adoption of management practices of these companies, and how to facilitate their management development. Using the Socio-Economic Approach to Management (SEAM) as theoretical lens and SEAM intervention-research as methodology, the study uncovers myths in the managerial characterisation of micro-firms and suitable patterns of change management practices for them. Our research contributes to the study of M-Fs by being the first study specifically devoted to mature M-Fs, and by proposing a theoretical framework that shows the dynamic nature of the characteristics associated with M-Fs.     

A study of HRM and recruitment and selection policies and practices in Taiwan

In this paper, the authors present and discuss the findings of a survey of human resource management (HRM) and recruitment and selection policies and practices in a sample of manufacturing industry in Taiwan. The results indicate that there is a general desire among HR professionals in participant companies that HRM policies are integrated with corporate strategy and that HRM should be involved in decision making at board level. Evidence was also obtained that some HRM decisions are shared between line management and HR specialists and that line managers had a particularly influential role in decisions regarding recruitment and selection, training and development, and workforce expansion/reduction. There was also some evidence supporting an assertion that certain recruitment and selection practices were culturally sensitive and this was supported by evidence of association between recruitment and selection practices and country of ownership.     

Returns to acquiring firms: The role of managerial ownership, managerial wealth, and outside owners

Since merger and acquisition activity does not unambiguously benefit the shareholders of acquiring firms, the motivation of managers who undertake such actions is unclear. The present study investigates the extent to which the wealth effects of acquisition activity undertaken by firms in one industry—communications and publishing—are related to (1) the ownership and wealth characteristics of both the executives and the board of directors of these firms and (2) the ownership concentration of large outside shareholders. The motivating hypothesis, supported by empirical results, is that these factors contribute to the alignment of executive and shareholder interests.     

The reform of collective bargaining: a managerial revolution?

The company-based reform of collective bargaining has been frequently advocated as a way towards dramatic improvements in industrial relations. In this article the author tests this view against the available evidence, including a case study in a multi-plant manufacturing company.     

The crumbling of apartheid: An application of managerial economics

The thesis of this examination of Apartheid in the Republic of South Africa is that the sophistication of capital structure, whether viewed macro-economically or at the level of the firm, passes nigh-irrestible power to even unorganized workers. This non-Marxist social system model is empirically substantiated by South African economic history but, more particularly, from managerial decisions in respect of the production function – especially in the critical gold-mining industry – over time. This leads to the logical conclusion that the dynamic intensification of foreign capital investment in the Republic alone can end that country's system of Apartheid.     

Organizational Ambidexterity at the Local Government Level: The effects of managerial focus

Abstract

The aim of this article is to explore how managerial focus influences organizational ambidexterity in different organizational forms at the local government level. An entrepreneurial, leadership, or stakeholder managerial focus will each find reflection in the simultaneous pursuit of exploration and exploitation of resources, and the influence will differ with the organizational form, i.e. whether a local government administration (LGA), or a local government corporation (LGC). Hypotheses are tested on Swedish public organizations operating in the waste management and water and sewerage industries. The findings indicate that LGCs have higher levels of organizational ambidexterity, and that the determinants differ from those in LGAs.     

Bargaining over managerial contracts in delegation games: managerial power,contract disclosure and cartel behavior

Modern corporate governance codes include clauses requiring the disclosure of managerial compensation. Such codes have been installed to protect shareholders' interests. In this paper, we explore the impact of such disclosure on consumer welfare. We consider two‐stage delegation games in which owner‐shareholders negotiate about compensation with their managers in the game's first stage. At the end of the first stage, the managerial compensation contract outcomes of the bargaining process are publicly announced. In the second stage, Cournot competition evolves. We prove that sales delegation generates equilibria radically different from relative performance delegation. Using classical Cournot as the benchmark, contractual bargaining over sales compensation gives tougher product market competition—and hence higher consumer surplus. The opposite holds true for relative performance delegation. Then, cartel behavior is promoted, reducing consumer surplus. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.